Tenstorrent, a Canadian firm, has received $100 million in financing from Hyundai, Samsung, and Kia to challenge Nvidia’s supremacy in AI chip supply.
Tenstorrent, a Canadian firm, has raised $100 million from investors including Hyundai Motor Group, Samsung Investment Fund, and Kia in order to challenge Nvidia’s supremacy in delivering processors for artificial intelligence products like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.
The business, run by former Tesla employee Jim Keller, has so far received $234.5 million and is valued at roughly $1 billion. Tenstorrent collected $30 million from Hyundai, $20 million from Kia, and $50 million from Samsung’s Catalyst Fund, among other investors like Fidelity Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, Epiq Capital, and Maverick Capital, according to Reuters.
The freshly received money is structured as debt that will be converted into stock later. To get the new valuation, the chipmaker will need to undertake another round of stock financing.
Hyundai stated, “Hyundai Motor Group today announced a strategic investment in Tenstorrent, an artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor company based in Toronto, Canada, which will allow the Group to integrate AI into future Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis vehicles, as well as other future mobilities, including robotics and advanced air mobility (AAM).”
Tenstorrent, which was launched in 2016, manufactures its own AI chips while also offering intellectual property and other technologies to clients in order to assist them in developing their own AI chips. In addition to competing with Nvidia in the data center, Tenstorrent is working on other applications for AI chips, including the May announcement that the firm will produce chips for smart TVs.
Meanwhile, Keller, who took over as CEO of the AI chipmaker earlier this year, has previously worked for Apple, Tesla, and Intel. His tenure at Tenstorrent represents a comeback to the automotive technology business.
